"It was my dream to dance in Bollywood film" : Caterina

Mumbai, Jul 31 (PTI) She may have appeared in a James Bond movie earlier, but one of the dreams of Italian actress Caterina Murino was to dance in a Bollywood film someday.

The former Bond girl, who starred in Daniel Craig's "Casino Royale", is all set to make her Bollywood debut in upcoming film, "Fever".

The actress says since director Rajeev Jhaveri knew her dream of dancing in a Hindi film, he put her in a sequence utilising her skills.

"Because Rajeev knew that it was my dream to dance in a Bollywood film, he put me in a sequence where I am dancing.

But is more European style, not the typical dance. So 60 per cent of my dream was fulfilled," Caterina told PTI in an interview.

"For us, Bollywood movies are about dance, classical and historical things but I believe you are doing much more than that. But 'Fever' has an international appeal to it. It is not the typical Bollywood stuff."

The 38-year-old actress was happy when the film was offered to her, but her only impression of Bollywood was that it was a huge industry which churned many movies.

"Thanks to James Bond, I am here. Because the director saw the film and approached me. I was so happy when I received the script because Bollywood for us, is (like) a huge machine.

But unfortunately, we didn't see much of Bollywood films."

Even though Caterina did not watch a lot of Hindi films, the actress says people in Italy are crazy for Kabir Bedi more than any other superstar of India.

"I saw 'Jodhaa Akbar', 'Devdas' and 'Salaam Bombay'.

Aishwarya Rai is an amazing beauty and I also loved the performance of Hrithik. But for us, Kabir Bedi is a big star in Italy, all your big stars here are completely unknown to us," she said.

The "Voice from the Stone" star is all praise for her co-star Rajeev Khandelwal and says she sees a lot of parallels with him as a performer.

"Rajeev is an amazing human being. I know he is a very unconventional Bollywood actor, he makes very different movies. I really admire him. People know if it is a film starring Rajeev film, it has to be good."

The film, produced by Ajay Chabbria, is scheduled to release on August 5.